============================================================== To reach ALL SJD members, please send to sjd@satjadham.net ... Do NOT include any other addresses when sending to the list... Include as LITTLE of the original messages as possible........ Message sent by: Soudary Kittivong *** Announcement: *** Please register for SatJaDham Fifth Annual conference at the website http://www.satjadham.org/sjd5sd/ ============================================================== ****************************************************************************** This posting was held captive by our mail filter because of a taboo word. ****************************************************************************** April 19, 00 An entry from my journal to share with everyone. They are my observations of people in the city; compassion, and what a crime it is not to have any. Soudary .. For Your Own Safety The light is red, so I stop. A man is sitting in the middle street divider. The police officer towers above, clad in blue and [shite] stripes and a helmet for a head. The officer's bike is parked next to him, partially blocking the ramp, seemingly waiting for the next "catch." Eyeing the cars passing by closely on either side of them, I think, how dangerous for both of them. The officer's head is down, writing intently what I assume is a ticket. The other man, sitting cross-legged, looks up to the officer, cringing in the high noon sun. He says nothing, just looks up and in a confused daze, cringes, and mutters words.. words.. I wonder what the man had done--what was his crime? I see not a car that belongs to him that would give evidence to a moving citation, only a face wrinkled with age and from days of exposure outside. Perhaps he is homeless, I think. The light turns green, and as I slowly pull across the intersection, I glance quickly as the view brings me a full picture of the man sitting, with his one crutch laying openly in his lap. I think to myself, shaking my head, "What a crime." 6.28.99 copyrighted Soudary Kittivong == karmic@qon.lao.net -=kar.ma [kar me, ker-] noun, often cap: the force generated by a person's actions held in Hinduism and Buddhism to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine one's destiny in one's next existence=- _____________________________________________________________ = You want FREE web-based email ? = You want your own @qon.lao.net address?? = Then you want LaoNet's WebMail ! = Get it at http://webmail.lao.net !! _ ***************************************************************** Visit SatJaDham Homepage at: http://www.satjadham.org (or .net) *****************************************************************